Dienst van SURF
© 2025 SURF
Climate change adaptation requires understanding of complex social ecological systems (SESs). One source of uncertainty in complex SESs is ambiguity, defined as the range and variety of existing perceptions in and of an SES, which are considered equally valid, resulting in a lack of a unique or single system understanding. Current modelling practices that acknowledge the presence of ambiguity in SESs focus on finding consensus with stakeholders; however, advanced methods for explicitly representing and aggregating ambiguity in SESs are underdeveloped. Moreover, understanding the influences of ambiguity on SES representation is limited. This paper demonstrates the presence and range of ambiguities in endogenous and exogenous system drivers and internal relationships based on individual fuzzy cognitive maps derived from stakeholder perceptions of climate change adaptation in Kenya and introduces an ambiguity based modelling process. Our results indicate that acknowledging ambiguity fundamentally changes SES representation and more advanced methods are required.
Inertial measurement units (IMUs) allow for measurements of kinematic movements outside the laboratory, persevering the athlete-environment relationship. To use IMUs in a sport-specific setting, it is necessary to validate sport-specific movements. The aim of this study was to assess the concurrent validity of the Xsens IMU system by comparing it to the Vicon optoelectronic motion system for lower-limb joint angle measurements during jump-landing and change-of-direction tasks. Ten recreational athletes performed four tasks; single-leg hop and landing, running double-leg vertical jump landing, single-leg deceleration and push off, and sidestep cut, while kinematics were recorded by 17 IMUs (Xsens Technologies B.V.) and eight motion capture cameras (Vicon Motion Systems, Ltd). Validity of lower-body joint kinematics was assessed using measures of agreement (cross-correlation: XCORR) and error (root mean square deviation and amplitude difference). Excellent agreement was found in the sagittal plane for all joints and tasks (XCORR > 0.92). Highly variable agreement was found for knee and ankle in transverse and frontal plane. Relatively high error rates were found in all joints. In conclusion, this study shows that the Xsens IMU system provides highly comparable waveforms of sagittal lower-body joint kinematics in sport-specific movements. Caution is advised interpreting frontal and transverse plane kinematics as between-system agreement highly varied.
Behaviour Change Support Systems (BCSS), already running for the 10th time at Persuasive Technology, is a workshop that builds around the concept of systems that are specifically designed to help and support behaviour change in individuals or groups. The highly multi-disciplinary nature of designing and implementing behaviour change strategies and systems for the strategies has been in the forefront of this workshop from the very beginning. The persuasive technology field is becoming a linking pin connecting natural and social sciences, requiring a holistic view on persuasive technologies, as well as multi-disciplinary approach for design, implementation, and evaluation. So far, the capacities of technologies to change behaviours and to continuously monitor the progress and effects of interventions are not being used to its full potential. The use of technologies as persuaders may shed a new light on the interaction process of persuasion, influencing attitudes and behaviours. Yet, although human- computer interaction is social in nature and people often do see computers as social actors, it is still unknown how these interactions re-shape attitude, beliefs, and emotions, or how they change behaviour, and what the drawbacks are for persuasion via technologies. Humans re-shape technology, changing their goals during usage. This means that persuasion is not a static ad hoc event but an ongoing process. Technology has the capacity to create smart (virtual) persuasive environments that provide simultaneously multimodal cues and psycho-physiological feedback for personal change by strengthening emotional, social, and physical presence. An array of persuasive applications has been developed over the past decade with an aim to induce desirable behaviour change. Persuasive applications have shown promising results in motivating and supporting people to change or adopt new behaviours and attitudes in various domains such as health and wellbeing, sustainable energy, education, and marketing. This workshop aims at connecting multidisciplinary researchers, practitioners and experts from a variety of scientific domains, such as information sciences, human-computer interaction, industrial design, psychology and medicine. This interactive workshop will act as a forum where experts from multiple disciplines can present their work, and can discuss and debate the pillars for persuasive technology.
MULTIFILE
Digital transformation has been recognized for its potential to contribute to sustainability goals. It requires companies to develop their Data Analytic Capability (DAC), defined as their ability to collect, manage and analyze data effectively. Despite the governmental efforts to promote digitalization, there seems to be a knowledge gap on how to proceed, with 37% of Dutch SMEs reporting a lack of knowledge, and 33% reporting a lack of support in developing DAC. Participants in the interviews that we organized preparing this proposal indicated a need for guidance on how to develop DAC within their organization given their unique context (e.g. age and experience of the workforce, presence of legacy systems, high daily workload, lack of knowledge of digitalization). While a lot of attention has been given to the technological aspects of DAC, the people, process, and organizational culture aspects are as important, requiring a comprehensive approach and thus a bundling of knowledge from different expertise. Therefore, the objective of this KIEM proposal is to identify organizational enablers and inhibitors of DAC through a series of interviews and case studies, and use these to formulate a preliminary roadmap to DAC. From a structure perspective, the objective of the KIEM proposal will be to explore and solidify the partnership between Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas), Avans University of Applied Sciences (Avans), Logistics Community Brabant (LCB), van Berkel Logistics BV, Smink Group BV, and iValueImprovement BV. This partnership will be used to develop the preliminary roadmap and pre-test it using action methodology. The action research protocol and preliminary roadmap thereby developed in this KIEM project will form the basis for a subsequent RAAK proposal.
The pressure on the European health care system is increasing considerably: more elderly people and patients with chronic diseases in need of (rehabilitation) care, a diminishing work force and health care costs continuing to rise. Several measures to counteract this are proposed, such as reduction of the length of stay in hospitals or rehabilitation centres by improving interprofessional and person-centred collaboration between health and social care professionals. Although there is a lot of attention for interprofessional education and collaborative practice (IPECP), the consortium senses a gap between competence levels of future professionals and the levels needed in rehabilitation practice. Therefore, the transfer from tertiary education to practice concerning IPECP in rehabilitation is the central theme of the project. Regional bonds between higher education institutions and rehabilitation centres will be strengthened in order to align IPECP. On the one hand we deliver a set of basic and advanced modules on functioning according to the WHO’s International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health and a set of (assessment) tools on interprofessional skills training. Also, applications of this theory in promising approaches, both in education and in rehabilitation practice, are regionally being piloted and adapted for use in other regions. Field visits by professionals from practice to exchange experiences is included in this work package. We aim to deliver a range of learning materials, from modules on theory to guidelines on how to set up and run a student-run interprofessional learning ward in a rehabilitation centre. All tested outputs will be published on the INPRO-website and made available to be implemented in the core curricula in tertiary education and for lifelong learning in health care practice. This will ultimately contribute to improve functioning and health outcomes and quality of life of patients in rehabilitation centres and beyond.
The pace of technology advancements continues to accelerate, and impacts the nature of systems solutions along with significant effects on involved stakeholders and society. Design and engineering practices with tools and perspectives, need therefore to evolve in accordance to the developments that complex, sociotechnical innovation challenges pose. There is a need for engineers and designers that can utilize fitting methods and tools to fulfill the role of a changemaker. Recognized successful practices include interdisciplinary methods that allow for effective and better contextualized participatory design approaches. However, preliminary research identified challenges in understanding what makes a specific method effective and successfully contextualized in practice, and what key competences are needed for involved designers and engineers to understand and adopt these interdisciplinary methods. In this proposal, case study research is proposed with practitioners to gain insight into what are the key enabling factors for effective interdisciplinary participatory design methods and tools in the specific context of sociotechnical innovation. The involved companies are operating at the intersection between design, technology and societal impact, employing experts who can be considered changemakers, since they are in the lead of creative processes that bring together diverse groups of stakeholders in the process of sociotechnical innovation. A methodology will be developed to capture best practices and understand what makes the deployed methods effective. This methodology and a set of design guidelines for effective interdisciplinary participatory design will be delivered. In turn this will serve as a starting point for a larger design science research project, in which an educational toolkit for effective participatory design for socio-technical innovation will be designed.